Three members of a coalition in Michigan fighting against the transportation and refining of tar sands oil were found guilty by a jury of the charges of trespassing and resisting and obstructing an officer. They had not been allowed to raise the issue of the risk tar sands oil poses to the environment during the trial and were immediately jailed with their bond revoked.

Barbara Carter, Lisa Leggio and Vicci Hamlin of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MICATS) now await sentencing, which is scheduled for March 5th. They were arrested and charged with offenses because, according to MICATS, they “locked themselves to destruction equipment working on the expansion of Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline, the same pipeline that burst in 2010 and spilled more than one million gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo community. ”

On this weekly podcast, Kevin Gosztola of Firedoglake.com and Rania Khalek, who publishes her work to the “Dispatches from the Underclass” blog at RaniaKhalek.com, interview Chloe Gleichman of the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MICATS. We discuss the trial of three of the coalition’s members for offenses stemming from nonviolent direct action, how direct action can build movements and the impact of Enbridge energy in Michigan.

In the discussion portion of the podcast, Gosztola and Khalek discuss a coal ash spill in North Carolina and how it received very little media coverage. We discuss child mortality in Detroit, PTSD, and a horrific case in Jasper, TX, that highlights racism in the city. George Zimmerman comes up and, as there was a verdict in the trial of the “NATO 3,” we talk about overzealous prosecutors trivializing terrorism.

If you listen to the entire podcast, you will hear us discuss our vision for this podcast at the end of this week’s episode. We also recorded this episode when there was no news of a verdict so I went back and added a short bit on the outcome for people who took the time to listen.

Below is a transcript of the interview with Chloe Gleichman of MICATS:

KEVIN GOSZTOLA, Firedoglake.com: What drove people to take action? What was the action? And then what was the reason why you had three members of your organization put on trial?

CHLOE GLEICHMAN, MICATS: Sure. Thanks very much. So, in 2010, Enbridge spilled over million gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River and that is killing people, sickening the whole community and it’s still not cleaned up. And now they’re expanding that same pipeline to carry double the amount of tar sands oil through the state and out to the east for export.

Three people – Lisa, Vicci and Barb – this summer locked down equipment on one of their construction sites and stopped construction for the day. They were arrested. They were charged with a misdemeanor, trespassing, and a felony, resisting and obstructing. And they went to trial last week.

After a pretty heated and long trial and jury deliberation, they were found guilty of all their charges. The judge immediately put them in jail and revoked their bond and sentencing’s set for March 5th.

RANIA KHALEK, Dispatches from the Underclass: Can you talk a little bit about the fact that during the trial they weren’t able to argue that their actions were environmentally necessary, even though the pipeline does affect their health and them personally?

GLEICHMAN: Sure, that was one of the things the lawyers had brought forth before the trial started was potentially using the necessity defense. The judge said he doesn’t see this action as environmental necessity. That he sees necessity as someone running out and stopping an oil leak that’s happening, but this is not that. They could absolutely not use that. So, during the trial he would stop them whenever anything was brought up about what Enbridge had actually done, what tar sands is, any of those things. They were pretty limited in how much they could say and how much of their story they could tell.

GOSZTOLA: During the trial, I remember hearing Tim DeChristopher talk about you in Chicago. I don’t know—some of your people from your organization, I think, were in the audience for a speech that he gave here in Chicago a few months ago. And I listened to him talk about the trial and the fact that the three of these individuals here they did not take any sort of a plea agreement. They went to trial because they thought it could be helpful to the movement just to show the value to engaging in this civil disobedience. Can you talk about that?

GLEICHMAN: That’s correct. The three of these woman chose to take it to trial for several reasons. From what I understand, they didn’t want to plead guilty to these things. They believed these actions were necessary and good, and they didn’t want to plead guilty. Also, a lot of times direct action—We see the action. We see people go to jail, and then they get released and it kind of just ends. And they really wanted to see the whole process through.

They also recognized that they have a lot of privilege being who they are and that they could really make this into something bigger is by really following the whole process through and accepting the consequences and continuing from that.

KHALEK: With the activists, you mentioned their bond was taken away. Basically they are not allowed to post bail. They have to remain in prison until next month, right?

GLEICHMAN: Right, that’s what the judge ordered right after the jury made its decision. They were sent to jail and with a bond revoked there was no bail. So they’ll be there until sentencing.

KHALEK: Are they receiving any help from environmental organizations involved in helping them legally in any way whatsoever?

GLEICHMAN: The National Lawyers Guild has been helping, but really it’s just the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands and other allied groups stepping up and sending solidarity with them and the whole struggle in general.

GOSZTOLA: That was actually one of the issues I wanted to raise because another thing that the remarkable climate activist Tim DeChristopher brought up was that it was his belief that maybe you had been abandoned, that this group that engaged in nonviolent resistance against Enbridge had been left for dead basically because larger organizations had asked people to mobilize and take action and then now, while people are facing these serious charges—they’re going to have to do jail time—there is little peep from these people who could use their organizations to call attention to what people were doing. Do you have anything to add or comment about this?

GLEICHMAN: I definitely agree with that. I think oftentimes frontline communities get left behind in the rhetoric that is so political coming from the large organizations. In Michigan, we often get frustrated with some of those big organizations talking about the Keystone XL pipeline, which is a big deal, however, there’s many other tar sands companies and tar sands pipeline that are doing the same thing. And, in a lot of ways, we feel like we get ignored or just kind of pushed under the radar because of the political implications that the Keystone XL fight has had.

And it really isn’t about politics because we know that every time politics fails. It’s about community power and frontline communities reclaiming that power.

KHALEK: How does this tie in to the fight against the Keystone XL? I’ve seen recently that you’ve got native communities in Canada that are saying we’re not gonna let this pipeline happen, and they’re on the front lines. Like you said, it seems like these small locally affiliated organizations, who are immediately affected by the impacts of these pipelines, are the ones fighting this on their own right now. How does that tie in with the Keystone XL?

GLEICHMAN: The Keystone XL and Enbridge’s line [inaudible] and so many other pipelines are tar sands pipelines. It’s the same companies doing the same things. Each community that’s affected by it is resisting it.

The way it ties is mostly the whole national rhetoric that’s political around this is really not what’s going on. The communities that are really facing the real stuff that’s happened because of this sickness, toxins, poison, exploitation of labor, all these things—they’re the ones on the ground resisting these companies. Enbridge, TransCanada—they’re all one and the same.

KHALEK: Could you go into what’s been happening in Michigan in terms of the impact on the community?

GLEICHMAN: In Kalamazoo, the tar sands oil spills out [and] it sinks. It doesn’t float. The oil is still in that community. From what I understand from people who live there and work with people there, people have died. People have developed conditions, having seizures, neurological problems, all these things. It’s really a pretty awful picture over there. People who have never before experienced any sort of problem are experiencing problems now.

One of my friends who has done a lot of medical work over there has said that over 100 people have passed away since the spill in 2010.

KHALEK: Over 100 people?

GLEICHMAN: Yeah. It’s not something you hear because you can’t necessarily link it directly to that, but these are people who had never had problems before the spill and now after have problems.

GOSZTOLA: Not to end the the interview on a downbeat note here, but I want to ask something rather serious and then you can add anything you want on what you and your organization are doing now as you continue your activism. I have two questions here, which is—Is there any sort of cooperation in the state between like the prosecutors and the police and then these energy companies? Are they very afraid of the fact that you have had people out doing actions? The second question I have is, what are you going to be doing in the coming months? I presume you are continuing to engage in actions.

GLEICHMAN: In the trial, it was very evident that there was at least a little bit of collusion between the prosecutor, the judge, the police and Enbridge. There was a huge police presence the entire time. We do know that the police are paid off by Enbridge to guard their easements and patrol after hours. And it was very evident that they were collaborating during the trial. The judge was extremely partial to the prosecution. The police were talking with Enbridge people. There was an Enbridge attorney there we know because we know who he is, but he was there in plain clothes acting as if he wasn’t associated with Enbridge. So, we definitely know that there is that collusion going on, but in spite of all that the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands is going to continue to do what we do.

I think all of these things are definitely in response to what we have done. I think the state’s a little bit scared and a little intimidated by us, which is a good thing. So, we don’t really want to stop when we’re at that point. We’re going to be continuing with jail support for the three ladies and getting our strategy together for the sentencing and also continuing to protest Enbridge and help with all the other struggles that are going on that we can help with.

KHALEK: Hey, Chloe, what can people do to help your organization and help these women? Is there like a fund they can donate to?

GLEICHMAN: Sure, yeah, if you go on our website, MichiganCats.org, there’s a page that has updates on how you can help. Definitely writing letters. They only accept 4 x 6 post cards, but all the information is on the website. If you have money, donating to their commissary fund. Obviously, taking solidarity action is awesome as well.

GLEICHMAN: Yep, it’s a postcard only policy, which is pretty irritating, but 4 x 6 plain postcards without any pictures or fun stuff on them.

KHALEK: So they can read what you’re writing.

GLEICHMAN: Guess that makes it easy.

GOSZTOLA: Thank you for joining us. We’re happy that you joined. We really wish you and everyone in the state that our doing this work the best. Definitely it’s critical to continue pushing and working, and we sympathize with everything that your organization is going through as the state continues to prosecute the three people in your organization.

Thanks a lot Kevin, these three are doing everything possible. This is the greatest threat in human history, alongside nuclear war.

There seems to be a determined effort by environmental groups to ignore MI Cats three.

Although I understand that Bill Mckibben, James Hansen, wrote a letter to the presiding judge explaining the importance of this.

Another group is doing worthwhile work the Mayflower oil pipeline rupture/gusher group. Many of the homes there, have been bought, the neighbourhood was destroyed by the river of oil that flowed through yards and down streets.

This action was discussed at last years NatGat2, which is where I met two of these ladies. The owners of the property, where this MiCat action took place, were part of a moving panel discussion discussing the impact of pipelines and spills. It is important to remember that one of the charges against Barb, Lisa and Vicci was trespassing. They had the permission of the property owners to be there that day, unlike Enbridge who used condemnation/eminent domain to force their pipeline through this property. The other charge included resisting and obstructing, for not unlocking themselves from the machinery, rather than waiting quietly to be unlocked by the police. Their lawyer argued that it was not clear that an actual “command” had been given to them.
It leaves me wondering if all of us now will face 2-3 years in prison for future non-violent actions?
Please support them in any way you can…with words, thoughts, cards, money, activism.

It seems to me that allowing this small number of people to be sacrificed has played into the hands of the State. With the complete control of the courts and submissive jurors the only way to overcome this imbalance is with numbers. If thirty people replace the three at that work site and the next day thirty more show up they may be able to overwhelm the “Justice System” but it might take three hundred.

I wish these activists had more support but they don’t and their neighbors seem willing to send them to prison for minor resistance. The Big Green NGOs who could supply the numbers and support have their own agenda and avoid real activism like the plague.